Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

I've been a lurker on here for a while. I haven't seen much
discussion of the layout software we experimenters like to use.

The last time I did any "volume" of homebrew PCBs, I just used
something like Microsoft Paint!

But now, it seems there are many freeware or demoware software
packages available for this work. I'm curious what people tend to
use, and what the particular benefits are of the package chosen?

I've been using QCAD - has its ups and downs. Good news it can output
a Gerber file, which can then be manipulated in any Gerber viewer, and
printed/zoomed, etc. Also it ties together the schematic and the PC
board, so once you're done with the schematic, you go to layout, move
the parts around, and place traces to satisfy the rat's nest. But a
lot of this is clumsy, and doing re-work is very tedious. It's also
very time-consuming to create anything other than 90 degree straight
lines with any accuracy. For those of us who are trying to roll out
PC boards for things like 300 watt UHF amplifiers, that limitation can
be a killer.

What do others use?

Kindly,

Dave